Because of the popularity of decaffeinated coffee, it is common in restaurants to have two pots or pitchers available for customers, one containing regular coffee and the other decaffeinated coffee. Portable coffee pots have been proposed for use in restaurants and cafeterias for dispensing two beverages, but previous dispensers have been complicated in construction and difficult to fill or keep clean, or are difficult to operate because they require an awkward movement of the thumb or finger to dispense beverages selectively. Some of these containers have a very small top opening, making them difficult to fill and to clean. Others tend to leak when a beverage is being dispensed.
The serving container of my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,767, which is incorporated herein by reference, while very good, had certain areas for potential improvement. For example, small amounts of regular caffeinated coffee remaining in a space above the valves or in the spout could become mixed with decaffeinated coffee dispensed at a later time. In addition, a spout that was built into one side of the container body added complexity to the container and because it projected from the side of the container, it was subject to breakage. Moreover, the coffee flowed first from the cover into the spout and then from the spout to a cup. This further complicated cleaning and also tended to cool the coffee. Additionally, in the patented dispenser, a consumer in some cases could not be sure he was getting the right kind of coffee since both regular and decaf flowed through the same chamber and came out of the same spout.
In view of these and other deficiencies of the prior art, it is one object of the present invention to provide an improved container for dispensing two beverages which includes a cover that seals the container to keep out contaminants yet allows no mixing of the beverages within the cover.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved container for dispensing beverages which allows a customer to observe visually that either of two beverages can be dispensed by a serving person and to confirm that the correct beverage is being served.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved container that will dispense either of two beverages at an adequate flow rate but will not permit the beverages to become mixed.
Yet another object is to provide a serving container with a provision for sealing two different streams of beverages from a compartment containing valve actuators for controlling the flow thereof.
Still another object is to provide a container for dispensing two beverages through either of two valves positioned below the mouth of the container but enable the beverages to flow forwardly in separate streams through a spout positioned above the mouth of the container.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following Figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.